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Monticello Christian Academy
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Note From the Principal’s Office
~ October 2010 ~
“Where’s Pluto?”
God is big! How big? The Bible says His hands stretch as far as the east is from the west.
Does this mean His hands only stretch across the earth, or further? Since the Bible also says
that He not only created the stars, but knows each one by name, we are to understand God’s
magnitude in galactic terms; East side of the Universe, to the west. Incredible that He has
named the stars, when you consider there are an estimated 4.8 trillion stars in the Universe.
According to “space.com”, the Universe is 156 billion light years from edge-to-edge. So,
traveling at 186,000 miles per second…………… well, it would take you quite a while to get
there! How many times would Elroy ask George and Judy, “are we there yet?” (Slightly
obscure Jetson’s reference. I’m smiling right now remembering Astro on the treadmill.)
God is big! To put “millions” and “billions” into perspective, a youth pastor, Louie Giglio,
compares a light year to earth seconds for better understanding. He says that a million seconds
was twelve days ago. How about a billion seconds? Twenty four days ago? Twenty four
months? Remember, a billion is a thousand million. Before you read the answer, take a guess.
A billion seconds ago takes you back to about 1975. O.K., so how about a trillion seconds?
The 1800’s? Pilgrims landing? Nope. Would you believe 29,000 B.C.? Is it fair to reason that
God deals in “bigness?” Space is big, time is big, God is bigger. Could He create something
larger than Himself?
To attempt an illustration for my students, we’ve dedicated an entire wall to representing our
solar system to scale. We could only place ¼ of the sun on the wall, floor to ceiling. If it had
been any smaller, the planets would not have been visible; kind of defeating the point. As it is,
earth is about the size of a golf ball, and Jupiter, slightly larger than a volley ball. While we were
successful in demonstrating the relative “size” of the planets, we could not succeed in showing
the relative distance between the planets due to our wall-length limitations. So, where’s Pluto?
Half way across the school building? Nope. To the town square? Nope. How about to Allerton
Park? Huh-uh. Take Cisco road through Cisco and into Argenta. That’s where we would need
to put Pluto, based on the scale we have in our room. Maybe you’ll have time to drive over
there this week and see the stake I’m planting by the road with Pluto on it.
God is big! But more importantly, He’s big enough.
With awe, Mr. H